Iraq ambush was bank heist

Published: November 30, 2003 7:00PM

SAMARRA, Iraq (AP) The U.S. military said 54 Iraqis were killed in the northern city of Samarra as U.S. forces used tanks and cannons to fight their way out of simultaneous ambushes while delivering new Iraqi currency to banks. But residents said Monday that the casualty figure was much lower and that the dead were mostly civilians.

By the American account, Sundays fighting was the bloodiest combat reported since the fall of Saddam Husseins regime in a U.S.-led invasion.

West of Baghdad, assailants ambushed a U.S. military convoy on Monday, killing one soldier, the U.S. military said. The attack with small arms fire occurred near Habbaniyah, 50 miles west of the Iraqi capital, the military said. The soldiers name was withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The U.S. military said attackers in Samarra, many wearing uniforms of Saddams Fedayeen paramilitary force, struck at two U.S. convoys at opposite sides of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.

The scars of the battle were evident on Monday. About a dozen cars lay destroyed in the streets, many apparently crushed by tanks, and bullet holes pocked many buildings. A rowdy crowd gathered at one spot, chanting pro-Saddam slogans. One man fired warning shots in the air when journalists arrived at the scene.

There was no U.S. military presence in the city center on Monday. Shops opened, and residents moved around town.

At a news conference at a U.S. military base in Samarra, Col. Frederick Rudesheim said the American convoys were on a mission to deliver currency to banks when the coordinated ambushes took place.

That was a given location that they knew we would go to, Rudesheim said. This was done in a concerted fashion.

At the U.S. base, half a dozen suspects were seen with bags over their heads and their hands bound by plastic cuffs.

Many residents said Saddam loyalists attacked the Americans, but that when U.S. forces began firing at random, many civilians got their guns and joined the fight. Many said residents were bitter about recent U.S. raids in the night.

Why do they arrest people when theyre in their homes? asked Athir Abdul Salam, a 19-year-old student. They come at night to arrest people. So what do they expect those people to do?

Civilians shot back at the Americans, said 30-year-old Ali Hassan, who was wounded by shrapnel in the battle. They claim we are terrorists. So OK, we are terrorists. What do they expect when they drive among us?